Where does the term bunny hug come from? | CBC News

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A cozy hooded sweatshirt with a front pouch is known in most of Canada as a hoodie.

In Saskatchewan, it’s a bunny hug.

But why? Where does that phrase come from? And when was the term coined?

Candace Bighead put these questions to the new CBC podcast Good Question, Saskatchewan.

Bighead, who grew up outside of Prince Albert and now lives in Saskatoon, said it’s always been a bunny hug to her.

“I have a friend who lives in Ontario and she says hoodie. And I thought, ‘no, it’s not. It’s a bunny hug,'” said Bighead.

Bighead had no idea why we call it that.

“We had this argument of where it originated and we couldn’t figure it out. And it’s like, whatever, it’s just going to be this unknown thing. Hers is a hoodie and mine is a bunny hug.”

‘It’s a statement on who we are’

Christina Burke, the store manager of Saskamper, a Saskatoon apparel company that sells a line of bunny hugs, said it’s easy to spot people who are new to Saskatchewan.

“We’ve got bunny hug right on our logo and they ask, like, ‘what the heck, it’s just a hoodie.'” 

But according to Burke, it’s more than a name.

“It’s a statement on who we are in Saskatchewan,” she said.

“It’s been passed down through families and that’s just what we call it and nobody questions it.”

So, where does the name come from?

There are theories.

Burke said she’s heard the phrase is connected to a time when Saskatchewan supposedly was overpopulated with bunnies. 

“Lots of people have hypotheses,” said Andrea Sturzek, professor of language and literacy at the University of Regina.

One possibility, according to Sterzuk, is the shape of the clothing item, because the hood looks a bit like rabbit ears hugging a person’s head.

She said a study references this theory and states there was a newspaper article in the Shellbrook Chronicle in 1978 where the phrase bunny hug was used as an adjective to describe a piece of clothing. That same study suggests bunny hug turned into a noun in the ’90s.

Another theory Sterzuk has heard is that it comes from the 16th century, when some clothing was lined with rabbit fur.

Some researchers have linked it to a dance called the bunny hug, Sterzuk said. In the dance, people form a conga line and dancers squeeze the waist of the person in front of them — that’s where the pouch of a bunny hug is located.

“But really,  no one exactly knows,” said Sterzuk.

‘Part of our identity as a province’

What we do know, she said, is that changes to language are moved along by young people, especially girls, usually between the ages of 13 and 17.

“So likely this term, wherever it originated, was moved along throughout the province by young girls,” she said.

“Some people say it’s around the Prince Albert and Melfort area. There was a group of teenage girls who were using the word bunny hug and from there it spread.”

Bighead, who grew up near Prince Albert, finds this fascinating.

“It definitely would make sense that that would be the generation that would come up with something like that and the term would be adopted by older generations,” said Bighead. 

“That definitely happens in today’s day and age, for sure.”

Sterzuk said words and phrases are often pegged to a particular region, and bunny hug is “a nice thing that seems to have become part of our identity as a province.”

Burke said she appreciates having a phrase that is unique to Saskatchewan

“We want to be special. We wanna be weird. We wanna keep our things to us. So, bunny hugs forever.”

Your burning questions about Saskatchewan, answered weekly. Nothing too big, too small, or too weird. What are you wondering? Email goodquestionsask@cbc.ca or fill in the form below.